District Education Office (DEO), Jajarkot, had planned to conduct the exams of Grade I-IX in around 400 schools. But the exams have been canceled due to the phase-wise protests of the teachers starting from February 1, 2010, affecting the future of around 70,000 students, according to the DEO. [break]
The agitating teachers maintain that they should get remoteness allowance as Jajarkot is geographically similar to Karnali and even the government has put it among the nine most remote districts of the country.
The government has been giving up to 100 percent remoteness allowance to teachers in other areas of Karnali, depending on the distance from district headquarters.
“We have been forced to fight for our rights as we have not been provided with remoteness allowance even though the state has classified Jajarkot as a remote district,” vice-president of Nepal Teachers´ Union, Jajarkot, Asha Karki argued. She threatened to stop even the SLC exams and exams for teachers´ license if the demands are not met.
All of around 1,400 teachers in he district have expressed solidarity with the protest and even regular classes across the district have been affected for the last one month as most of the teachers have reached district headquarters for protests.
“Our future will be doomed if the problem is not resolved soon for proper management of classes,” Anjana Buda Chhetri, a student at Tribhuvan Higher Secondary School, said.
The DEO said the problem persisted as it cannot be solved from the local level. “I have already informed the education ministry about the issue,” Distrcit Education Officer Bachchu Lal Chaudhary said.
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